[TexasCajun]

From September 11, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War era, Ventura served in the United States Navy. Ventura graduated with BUD/S class 58 in December 1970[4] and was part of Underwater Demolition Team 12 (UDT).[5] The UDTs were merged with the US Navy SEALs in 1983, 8 years after Ventura had left the Navy.

Bill Salisbury, an attorney in San Diego and a former Navy SEAL officer, accused Ventura of “pretending” to be a SEAL and wrote that Ventura would be blurring an important distinction by claiming to be a SEAL when he was actually a frogman with the UDT. Compared to SEAL teams, UDTs saw less combat and took fewer casualties.[6][7][8] Following that, Governor Ventura’s office confirmed that Ventura was never a member of the SEALs. His spokesman stated that Ventura has never tried to convince people otherwise.[6] Ventura stated: “Today we refer to all of us as SEALs; that’s all it is.”[8]

Jackass Ventura was Never Ever a Navy Seal.

[rabidralph]

It’s SEAL, because those letters mean something.

[MediaMole]

A neighbor of mine was UDT in the 60s. He was always very careful in telling people he was a frogman and not a SEAL.